An update!

Well now, it's been a while hasn't it? To be honest, nothing much has gone on, though there has been a little progress with the garden.

The tomatoes, for one, have exploded. I hung the basket up from the roof to catch the sun for a few days, and just left it alone, wondering when the tomatoes would start really developing. Well, a storm rolled in and I took it down out of the wind, and there were suddenly like 20 or 30 little tomatoes between the two plants! It's taking a lot of water to keep them from wilting now. I snipped the baby strawberry runner from the mother plant, we'll see how it fares. My anaheim has a lovely little pepper growing and new blossoms opening every day, and the chili plant has sprung back nicely even if there are no flowers yet. The beans, unfortunately, seem to have stopped producing. They're growing nicely, but after I picked those first beans no more blossoms have appeared. Next year I really need to watch how I fertilize my plants, because dumping fertilizer on nitrogen-fixing crops means lots of foliage but no produce. Lesson learned, I suppose.

I practiced my pie making the other day. I'm terrible, and need a lot of practice. I think most of it will be reserved for the winter, though, because even with though this has been a fairly cool summer so far with us being on the third floor and having poor airflow it gets unbearably hot in here sometimes with the oven on. That's alright, it'll give me something to do while I'm pining for the spring to come.

Oh yeah, Trev said we're going to the State Fair next Saturday. Can't wait! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. It'll be good exercise stomping all over the fairgrounds for hours. Speaking of exercise, I'm trying to walk on our treadmill every day for a mile. I feel so much better when I do, I think a distinct lack of aerobic exercise might be part of why I feel so tired all the time and have low blood pressure. I'm so out of shape it's not even funny. Eventually I'd like to increase my endurance so I can flat-out run a mile. Right now, it takes forever to reach a mile even walking really fast and it's so boring I can hardly stand it. I try to read while walking but even so. I tried watching TV, too, but the stupid machine is too loud to hear the TV over. Today it's nice and cool again with a lovely breeze, so at least I won't roast half to death.

Oh! Before I forget, it's recommended reading time! We go to Half-Price Books a lot, and last time we went I found a book by John Seymour called The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It. It's a wealth of knowledge, and I'd suggest it to anyone who's interested in homesteading. If only I had the means to really put that knowledge to use! I don't think Trev will ever go for it, though. I also found The Gallery of Regrettable Food, which is a hilarious look at the terrible stuff they served back in the 50's and 60's. Hot dogs and beets in jello molds? You bet! My other good find was a book on preserving, which will come in quite handy this fall when we raid the apple orchards.

I'm going to head out now, I need to make the bed up, do some dishes, and get my walking and showering done. Toodles!